PPE Mistakes, Part 3

Do you make any of these mistakes with personal protective equipment (PPE)?

• Wearing polyester clothing. Be careful here, it’s also marketed as “microfiber.” Raincoats, shirts, and other items are often made of this material. Inspect the labels, and either leave the clothing at home or, better yet, don’t own any to begin with. Polyester will melt into your skin, not just onto your skin. The burn is hugely more painful and disfiguring. Why is this a PPE mistake? Because even though you are wearing all the right PPE, this clothing puts you at risk for severe injury.
• Wearing rubber electrical gloves without the outer shell. These are not “work gloves,” they are insulators. Safeguard the protective insulation by wearing the outer shell. If you just need work gloves, don’t grab rubber electrical gloves; they don’t offer the same mechanical protection as work gloves and they are relatively expensive to replace.
• Blowing into electrical gloves to test them. Your breath puts moisture inside the glove. Use the roll-up method, instead.